W/All Star resorts...is it worth it to upgrade to a preferred room?

[biebers5]

Bout to book All Star Movie resort. Should I upgrade to a preferred room? Or is regular just fine? What are the themes for the standard rooms? Thanks!! I'm learning so much from the forum

 

[Singinglizzie]

I believe the room interiors are the same regardless if they are standard or preferred. What you are really getting extra is the proximity to the food court. Those rooms/buildings are preferred by many and consequently Disney is able to charge a premium for them. If you want your room to be close to that area, then by all means spend the extra $15 per night.

 

[GrumpyBelle]

I would definitely upgrade to a preferred room. We stayed at AsMu for our 1st trip and were in the farthest building away from the food court/bus stop/pool areas. After the parks all day long, the walk on tired feet across the property to the farthest building away was brutal. I think at these resorts paying extra for preferred rooms is worth the cost.

 

[emmebear]

i've also read that at all star movies, the preferred rooms have fridges. that is a plus for me as my daughter loves milk.

 

[Tink415]

Mighty Ducks and Herbie the Love Bug are the themes for the standard room buildings. Otherwise the rooms are the same. I like to book preferred room to be closer to the resort center hopefully, cause sometimes we do stay out too late/long, and someone gets over tired. Every step can feel like an eternity at the end of the day to someone over tired or hurting from more activity than usual. The standard rooms aren't really that much further, maybe 2-5 minutes depending on how fast you walk.

 

[Mousemom]

Our family always books a preferred room. The outside theming for Movies is different depending what building you get but the rooms are all the same. We like being next to the food court, pools, and main building. We use the soda machines and food court a lot and don't like a long walk to get there. Movies is our second favorite value. We like Pop overall but have stayed at movies a few times. Enjoy your stay.

 

[Mommy2Jameson]

i've also read that at all star movies, the preferred rooms have fridges. that is a plus for me as my daughter loves milk.

All of the rooms have fridges now. The only difference is the walk. I honestly dont think the walk is that bad, so if you dont have a "theme" preference, I'd save the money! I did pay for a prefered just because my son is a huge Toy Story fan, but we walked from our building to the far Mighty Ducks building multiple times, because my son liked the hockey pool, and it wasnt bad!

 

[cinderella_mom]

Is the fridge cold enough for milk or is it just a "cooler" fridge?

 

[Mousemom]

There is no freezer in the fridges but you can keep milk, water and small food items in it easily and they stay nice and cold. We had water, juice and a quart of milk along with other foods in it with no problems.

 

[KatieKat]

We recently stayed at Sports in the football section, and just had the standard room. As soon as you learn your way around a little bit, we found out we were just around the corner from the main pool and building. Less than a 3 minute walk.

At POP, it's a whole different story.... lol

 

[2blondeprincesses]

The preferred rooms are worth it. We were in Broadway in asmu before and after 10 hours at the park we paid for soda out of the machine instead of walking to food courts with mugs several times.

 

[maxiesmom]

I would much rather be in the preferred buildings. It is nice to be only a few steps away from the food court or main pool, instead of having a bit of a walk. Also the last time we ended up in a standard location at the Music (I had booked preferred but we were downgraded) it was very cold! It was horrible to have to make that walk to the main buildings wearing my winter coat. It didn't feel like Florida!

 

[lustergirl]

We recently stayed at Sports in the football section, and just had the standard room. As soon as you learn your way around a little bit, we found out we were just around the corner from the main pool and building. Less than a 3 minute walk.

At POP, it's a whole different story.... lol

Gotta agree with you about POP. The resort is very huge and even some of the preferred locations seem miles from the main stuff. We stayed in 70's (a preferred location) and was on the 4th floor facing the parking lot.

 

[Dancing Queen]

I think I am in the minority here - stayed at ASMo in preferred section. When we saw how close the standard rooms were, we were kicking ourselves for paying the extra money! We did not think it was that far at all. Then again, we did have a stroller for our kids.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I have stayed at all 3 All-Stars 2x each and I can tell you that the only one I feel the need to pay preferred for is at Music. The layout at Music is different from the other two and you could have a bit of a hike to the main building if you don't book preferred. (Although still considerably less than many moderate rooms.)

Movies, Sports and Pop have a more compact layout than Music and the walk from any of the rooms at the resort isn't particularly far even if you are in the furthest room possible. So, don't feel a need to book preferred at Movies thinking you will be far away.

When we stay at Movies, we book based on what theme we are interested in. Last time, the kids wanted Fantasia, so I booked preferred and made a request for Fantasia. I believe Toy Story and Dalmations are the other themes for preferred. If you stay Mighty Ducks, you are actually very close to Music's food court and buses. (Ironically, closer than many of the Music rooms.)

And, as a PP mentioned, there are fridges in all rooms.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I think I am in the minority here - stayed at ASMo in preferred section. When we saw how close the standard rooms were, we were kicking ourselves for paying the extra money! We did not think it was that far at all. Then again, we did have a stroller for our kids.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we went preferred because we wanted Fantasia. But, we were a stones throw from the Herbie the Love Bug buildings (that was our view) and it would have taken under a minute to walk from our room in Fantasia to the furthest room in Love Bug. Movies is a very compact resort. In general, I find the values much easier on the feet than most of the mods and many of the deluxes.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

Personally, I don't think it is worth the extra money in the values. We didn't pay for preferred at Pop, and my family did and we all thought DH and I were just as close, and our view was better.

 

[stcav2000]

The only one I can speak to is the Movies and I would say no. The Mighty Ducks building (standard) is right next to the quiet pool and the Music Buses. The walk to the food court at the Movies or Music is not bad and the thing I like most is that the area is not as popular so it is quiet and relaxed. When we would walk by the main pool it was so loud and crowded there was no room to actually swim or layout, meanwhile the Hockey pool was only us and one other family.

 

[canopynut66]

preffered is closest to the food court and bus stops pool preffered is same but faces a pool at POP and to us is worth it to be closer. rooms are the same

 

[KatieKat]

Gotta agree with you about POP. The resort is very huge and even some of the preferred locations seem miles from the main stuff. We stayed in 70's (a preferred location) and was on the 4th floor facing the parking lot.

When we stayed at Pop we also were in the 70's, but on the standard side facing the lake. It was a pretty view, but at the end of the night it was a loooong walk back to the room.